Leadership Team
CHRISTOF WITTIG, CHIEF HORNET
Christof co-founded Hornet in 2011 when he felt there was a need to give the queer community a better app. He is the CEO of Queer Networks, Inc.
Christof is a serial software entrepreneur and investor, a poor triathlete and happily married for over 20 years to his husband, Juan. Born in Germany, he now lives in San Francisco and frequently travels around the globe.
NILS BREITMAR, GROWTH
Nils is the VP of Growth at Hornet and is responsible for developing the top-line and user base. As a product growth leader, he manages planning processes and collaborates cross-functionally, leveraging the range from statistics of his analytic team to cheerful shows of the video-live stream community team.
Born in Germany, Nils enjoyed quantitative education at Maastricht University and Columbia University, having received several honors and published academically, e.g., on auction theory. He currently lives in New York.
MATT HIRST, TECHNOLOGY
Matt oversees Hornet's strong engineering team, from delivering cutting-edge frontend design to maintaining consistent uptime for servers that process billions of messages, all while keeping user safe from malicious attacks.
Matt came to Hornet from Device Magic and Platform45. He and most of Hornet's engineering team are based in Cape Town, South Africa.
GERRY MONAGHAN, OPERATIONS
Gerry heads up operations, overseeing Hornet's largest team, distributed in dozens of countries around the world. His team nurtures Hornet's fast growing contributor community of LGBTQ influencers, and supports all users around the globe in dozens of languages, with an average response time of less than one hour.
Gerry previously served as a Customs and Immigration Officer at the UK Border Agency. He is based in Las Vegas.
DAMIEN BRENIER, FINANCE
Damien is Hornet's Financial Controller, overseeing accounting, legal and all aspects of Hornet's corporate presence. Since 2020, Damien also oversees brand partnerships.
Damien worked in a similar role at Teamworld, Seagate, LaCie and Sanofi. French-born, he now lives in Hong Kong.
ALON RIVEL, MARKETING
Alon, the VP of Global Marketing at Hornet, oversees the brand's global evolution and ensures consistent presence worldwide. With over 14 years of experience in B2C products and services, he excels in orchestrating all marketing initiatives, from customer acquisition to content creation, across multiple channels. His expertise spans omni-channel marketing, media, and sales, enabling the creation of powerful well-rounded campaigns.
Alon has held senior positions at esteemed organizations such as The New York Times, Lose It!, Jack'd, and Bloomberg. Recognized for his innovative leadership, he was named one of the Global Dating Insights Power Book leaders in 2019. Alon holds a BA in Communication & Legal Studies from UMass Amherst and resides in Boston, MA, with his husband and son.
